It's twelve days before Christmas, Love, and I am sitting here,
the hearth fire is burning bright, but on my cheek they're tears.
I hold the conch shell to my ear and call for you my dear.
Out across the briny deep a tempest cries beware.
The entry hall is full of garland, pine, spruce and mistletoe
The mirrors are all draped with ribbons, the brass all aglow
I hold the conch shell to me ear and stare out at the snow
remembering our last parting, I begged you not to go.
"Captain" said I "can you not see you take my heart from me?"
In his hand I placed a lock of hair, and a mustard seed.
He handed me a pearly conch shell from the Isle of Capri,
and bid me listen for his love song from the Southern Sea.
For twelve days, I've climbed stairs to the widows walk on high,
I clasp the token to my chest and search the sea near-by
So sad, yet sweet the mermaids sang, they of sailor's gone by.
They sang in sympathy, a song of longing with breathy sighs.
The cliff fires burn so bright now, he's coming on the tide.
The church bells are ringing now, soon they'll at anchor lie.
Had he heard me, had he called, had it been a dream I scryed?
T'was Christmas Eve and in the snow, he's landing with the tide.

A kiss from a rose on a sunset night,
as the clouds dip into the sea.
A kiss from that rose as the waves fall,
over the beach to a rose kissed me.
A kiss from a rose on a sunset night,
as we wrap in lovers embrace.
A kiss from a rose as homeward we go,
to a bed clothed in satin and lace.
A kiss from a rose on a sunset night,
with passion and warmth do we grasp.
A kiss from that rose that blossoms and blooms,
my hand in her labour pain clasp.
A kiss from a rose on a sunset night,
that wanton and curvy young bride.
A kiss from that rose that huddles our babe,
so loving, in motherly pride.
A kiss from a rose on a sunset night,
without whom I'd not share my life.
A kiss from that rose who selflessly filled,
the place of my darling rose wife!
(c) anaisanais - A M Docherty - Wales, United Kingdom. (7/8/2013)

Tears were rolling down his face, he told me.
I heard them in the sound of his sad voice.
Before today, we’d been so glad to know
my tumor was removed. We could rejoice!
Expecting radiation for six weeks,
I felt fantastic! Chemo I’d escaped.
Late test results came in. I heard with shock
the dread word “chemotherapy” and gaped.
I called my spouse. He could not help but cry.
I felt his tears as if they were my own.
He said I was too good to go through this.
His words will get me through. I’m not alone.
Written July 28 for the Three Stanzas- Three Only Contest of Broken Wings
Quatrain form with the rhyme on the second and fourth lines of each stanza.
Note: I am sure I am going to be ok. This chemo and radiation are all extra precautions to assure cancer does not return. I just don't want to go through it all, and the news the other day I would need the extra chemo was very unexpected! Thanks, my friends, who support me with your love and prayers. Thanks, Constance. Your special word was my inspiration.

A toddlers Crayola masterpiece marks the box
Where the story of our days now tarry
Passages tilting the axis of a bittersweet equinox
As photographs eclipse yesterday and today unvaried
The plans we made for a life
After years of work and worry
Useless installments when your partner dies
The crumbling of everything you once held firmly
Riveted, uprooted with every slide
Scenes of "our time" bring you back to life
I step from earth, you from the sun, for yet another goodbye
And the dam finally collapses behind brave hazel eyes
But not the brokenness your death left behind
Still, though no more than ashes it resides
Like faded photographs etched in the mind
Fanning the embers... one picture at a time
Rage rises, for you left me alone
Without refuge for all life's trials
And our sons fatherless before they were grown
Every step feeling more like a mile
I've grieved so long
And tried to move on
Like river water never looking back
But it's motion sings the the words to our song
Leaving me afraid I'll never belong
Or live out the plan we devised
For all my days my efforts give way
Blundering, burdened and blind
How does one truly recover
When the mate of their soul is no more
Or pass from one realm to yet another
When the walls of your heart no longer have a door?
Frustration builds like Lego towers
toppling to the floor under the weight of the world
Is it grief or something disguised by cowards
When a heart gets stuck from the pain that it's learned?
This ode to a man
Who in covenant took my hand
The marriage equator engraved a permanent mark...
For his death left a total eclipse of my heart
Crazy as a loon
But my God... how I loved you
My eyes fixed upon our favored moon
And I wonder... Do you miss me too?
Anniversaries used to be a joyous accomplishment
Marking years of selfless love made
Now it serves only an acknowledgement
Of a life interrupted by a cruel twist of fate
Of ill trusted hopes
And a future unmade
For us left behind to cope
With memories and photographs fading away
On this the 2nd anniversary...
Of your passing away
In memory of my husband of 25 years
Charley Romani
(My Beloved)

Once again, the powers that must
In rise again in what we trust
An overseas conflict, another war
Just what in the hell are we fighting for
Families are asking, Korea has just passed
Generations again reft, how long will it last
A country in need, to rebuild again
Flags at half mast, in wind and rain strain
Once again into war, sent by the Washington Post
To send back reports to hit home the most
Military observers were the first to be sent in
Another chapter of man entering existing sin
I'm witnessing our ariel power, Lam Son 719
US planners determine their incursion, saying all will be fine
Along the Mekong River, we'll carpet bomb their supply trail
Tons of munitions and napalm, this spread surely cannot fail
Many sorties are being flown, for the wounded and the dead
Whilst Nixon and his cronies, aren't thinking with their heads
The news of losses has reached me, nineteen have been killed
Eleven missing, fifty nine wounded, more American blood spilled
Seven fixed wing aircraft, more sons in action loss
Whilst back at home more protests, fading the dyeing's gloss
To to this job that I do, I was never prepared for this
To witness such bloody scenes, and ignore that life is bliss
How can I write about a soldier, whose name I'll never know
Killed at nineteen years old, his family he'll never see grow
Or even explain to his parents, when carried from the AH-1
His body bullet riddled and limp, when lifted it bloodily run
I never went back to the theatre, called the Vietnam War
Having witnessed the wanton killing, what were we fighting for
This colonial conflict that started, us on the side of France
So many came back as strangers, many to live in trance
James Fraser's entry into the contest " WORLD OF WAR: VIETNAM "

Together the Owl and the PusyCat were married
Then again sailed out over the deep blue seas
Searching forever for the great Land of Nod,
To the place where they could find true peace.
True peace, true peace… Where they could find true peace.
The love that twined forever within their hearts
They sought throughout all the wonderous lands
Going to the place where they would live in peace,
A place where true peace, rules and lives in the hearts of the land.
The land, the land… Where true peace lives in the heart of the land.
Alas, the love of the heart, though truly not easy to find…
Is easier to find than the love of peace, found throughout the land.
So it’s said they will continue to sail, until that day comes true,
And when they land for the final time, will be up to me and you.
Me and you, me and you… That day will be up to me and you.

Sore to the bone
Running on a drop of energy
Just gotta push through
I'll rest eventually
My shoulder has gone numb
But my body feels her weight
As if she's gotten heavy
Since her unconscious state
If I could, I'd stop right now
But who knows how safe it is here
And if I could even start again
I may fall asleep I fear
Soon my body will give up
But I'll make it as far as I can
And hopefully haven isn't too far
And I can put her in helping hands
Walking all day and night
It's hard not to think on past
And any thought I come up with
Has me struggling to hold sobs back
I've kept my ears open
Trying to focus on only sounds
But all I keep on hearing
Is my shoes crunch on foreign grounds
Bang. I hear it softly.
So far but still so near.
Bang. Another gunshot sounds
And I've collapsed in fear.
I close my eyes but another goes off
This time in a memory
And now I'm filled with rage
At how repulsive humans can be
My thoughts turn to my baby
Slipping off of my shoulder
I set her down and examine her
Bloodstained gown and skin colder
My worst nightmare but it can't be true
I listen in for her sweet breath
No. No No. No No. No No.
What's this silence? This isn't death.
This time I don't close my eyes
I see a sight that makes me sob
Memory of the last I saw my wife
And now my baby's with her mom.
Each one of us left covered in crimson
By a monster, a gunshot, a blow
Their death is the death of me.
This is as far as I can go.
May 2010
Inspired by Morris Gleitzman's novel "Once," a historical fiction about a boy in Poland
during the Holocaust.

He’s the only man who’s touched me
The one man with whom I’ve made love
Unheard of in this day and age
But still something to be proud of
No one else has caressed my body
Or has found the source of pleasure
No one else knows how to move me
To conquer measure by measure
No else has tasted my lips
Or has laid his head on my breast
No other man has made me moan
Been my partner in passion’s quest
No one else has played my sweet games
Or held me helpless in his arms
No other has made time stand still
Or has unleashed on me his charms
Now, after feeding him my love
I just watch him drift off to sleep
And I’m left to lie and wonder
How marriage vows are made to keep.
Eileen Manassian Ghali

Everything I ever want
Everything I do
She knows before I ever say
Because she loves me, too
All the wishes that I have
The many dreams I dare
She knows them all and smiles with me
Because she really cares
My imperfections are lost on her
As she sees within my soul
She knows me well, this friend of mine
She’s there and makes me whole
Sometimes I can feel incomplete
So converse with her, I will
She makes me feel the good feelings
Until I have my fill

I think I’ll live forever
I think I’ll refuse to die
Plant my body in the ground
My spirit’s going to fly
Please come fly away with me
Once this journey is complete
Universe can be our home
Our own magical retreat
Two celestial bodies
Darling lets take to the sky
Forget the why, when or how
This dream is for you and I
Gliding upon golden wings
We can dance from star to star
I would travel anyplace
So I could be where you are
Angel’s dance like fireflies
Through trails of glittering dust
In heaven magical things
Exist for people like us
It seems we have come so far
Seems the limit is the sky
When I think of who you are
Tears of joy I need to cry
Everything is what you are
You are everything to me
Long as eternity last
My soul shall be one with thee
So let’s live on forever
We will each refuse to die
Plant our bodies in the ground
As our spirits take to the sky

Waking with a smile, eyes bouncing green, dear husband
makes me hold back my scream, desire to pull over sheets.
Later, I find you sitting like Buddha, gazing at the land,
shifting as each birds lifts and soars and tweet tweets.
I watch you in silence, pick up slippers, my piles of papers
find my own breakfast to leave you undisturbed in dream,
you thank me so many ways, your face relaxed, finger tapers
held on belly, sometimes I wonder if you see past the gleam
Of heavenly contentment, lap of pool, sun blazing warm
the face so bruised by clenched jaw now so smooth
I never dare to battle you, drive you against walls or alarm.
Retirement is a silence of weighty falling before well oiled groove.

His squarish jaw, waggles when he thinks,
holding his fingers entwined at his waist.
He stares past his silvery frame, sinks
into mind, until I break in and say hi.
His thin silvery hair, is plush with curls at neck.
He stoops over as if time has weighed in
I see him counting, saying what the heck
here’s a bird, a butterfly, noisy squirrels.
His hands have a pain in them, all webbed
inside, pulling muscles taut, but they wave
they stroke the air, my legs, the seas ebbed
the sand, the sky, building the future in mind.
And when he picks up his violin mistress,
he dances her, never still this man of mine.
His harmonica hoots the day’s stresses,
digging out his soul, bending him like grass.
Sometimes I have to silence his motions,
hold him close to heart, let him sleep.
But always he plays out his commotion
making me music, making him mine.

I've been blinded by your sentiment,
and awoken by your sweet cologne,
like our sweet morning regiment,
we don't live in a house, but a home.
I see my pugs silly smushy face,
as soon as I open my exhausted eyes,
all night he sleeps in the same place,
on my feet, but I'm not surprised.
I'm in the bathroom brushing my teeth,
I open the door and there he is,
my sweet golden retriever beast,
So darn sweet, how can I resist?
“Time to get up Ella and get dressed!”,
It's Monday, you know how that goes,
As I see her smile I know I am blessed,
Love her from her head to her tiny toes.
Pancakes and orange juice for breakfast,
packing a lunch for my sweet Ella Rose,
These special moments can't be purchased,
Oh, how her beautiful brown hair flows.
Back from school and it's Laura time,
I kick back, relax, and do a little writing,
I'm lucky to have a chance to unwind,
My over sized lounge chair, typewriting.
Laundry piled up I suppose I throw in a load,
mmmmmmm..my favorite fabric softener,
Hot water is off my washer is cold,
But I think it makes the clothes softer.
Eat lunch? Or my favorite apple strudel?
I'll go with the unhealthy snack instead,
Plus I just looked and I'm all out of noodles,
and I have no more of my raspberry vinaigrette.
Uh oh, I forgot to feed the turtle and bunny,
my precious white fluffy piece of heaven,
His name is Lucky and he is very funny,
Pebbles the turtle just turned seven.
I set my phone alarm to go off at four o'clock,
I still can't decide what's my favorite ring tone,
I go to the bus stop right around the block,
It's cold, I would've brought a coat if I had known.
“Hi sweetheart, how was your day at work?
He's finally home, I've missed him so much.
Next it's time to sit down and do homework,
Dinner's ready, we are all starving, I figured as such.
Look inside our windows you will see it yourself,
With our little family of seven we're never alone,
We may not have a lot of monetary wealth,
But we've learned to turn a house into a home.
Written By: Laura Loo
Date Written: January 29, 2016

The man to whom I have been wed,
For low these many years,
Has never shared his love with me,
Now wants to share his fears.
I Don't Want To.
My feelings never mattered much,
He told me, don't complain,
And now we're old he thinks that I,
Should gladly share his pain.
Why Should I?
When I am sick he doesn't care,
I must care for myself,
But if it's him then I must do,
All that I can to help.
For What Reason?
I used to try to talk to him,
Tried to build a bond.
He didn't want to hash it out,
And all I did he shunned.
I'm Done Now.
He says that I'm uninterested,
Don't care, not a good wife.
He should have learned so long ago,
Good husbands make good wives.
Judy Ball
"So husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh
but nourishes it and cherishes it just as Christ also loved the church."
Ephesians 5:28-29
"Nevertheless let each idividual among you also love his own wife even as himself,
and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband."
Ephesians 5:33
Inspired by Russell Sivey's relationship contest

~Honeymoon Capers~
The big day arrived and we couldn’t wait
We were old fashioned and there was no horse after the gate
The wedding went off with nary a hitch
A few gate crashers but we didn’t b i t c h . *
The honeymoon night, boy what a thrill
The emotions it caused are with us both still
While showering in a hotel bathroom suite
My new husband dare ask if he could now peek.
Into the shower he joined me all of a quiver
The sparks were shooting hither and thither
I was covered in shampoo from washing my hair
I tried to squeeze past him the water to share.
No thought was there yet of making love in the shower
We were getting to know more of each other hour by hour
My new husband’s passion was obviously aroused
As I stuck me head under the shower to be doused.
It was then that I did slip and fall backwards with a yell
Taking the shower the curtains and my husbands passion as well
All I remember as my head hit the loo
Was an agonised yell from my husband brand new.
As my legs lifted high not for love it would seem
But I kicked him in the place where he kept his lovers dreams.
I woke up on the floor my head splitting in two
My husband at the side of me groaning by the loo
Water was pouring from the shower wall
Neither could move nor dare make a call
He said he knew that in marriage there could be some hard knocks
But it was taking the cake to get kicked in the rocks.
The toilet was cracked just like my head
The bathroom was flooded we had to stay in bed
Our honeymoon night our first night together
Is one we will remember for ever and ever.

They said we'd never make it
They said we would not last
And though we've had it rough, dear
For us, the dye's long been cast
They don't seem to understand it
They don't have a single clue
That though we have our problems
There is a magic glue
A glue so rare and precious
A glue so exquisitely fine
Forged out of our young love
Making you forever mine
We have a precious daughter
She is the forever bond
The union of our souls is she
Of whom you are so fond
Today as I watched you sleep
I longed to kiss you awake
With passion dipped words to say:
“Wake up, sweet love let’s make!”
And so I teased and I pleased you
Laid your head on my bare breast
I smiled at myself for I knew
That would bring on all the rest
I was not disappointed
You made me scream and sign
With techniques tried and true
You took me to the heavens high
And now you're getting older
You're climbing the ladder of time
Remember when you're old and grey
I'll still think you are sublime!
Eileen Manassian Ghali
A Little Background:
I wrote this some time ago for my husband, but I added to it to post it today. I met him when we were twelve, he asked me out at 14, I accepted him at 17 when I came back from the States, I married him at 26. We were neighbors, but our families were rivals of sorts. Regular Montegues and Capulets. His parents threatened to disown him if he married me. He was willing to go through the risk. This explains the beginning of the poem. It's been twenty years now. We are still together. The Title of the poem, a song by Sheena Easton, was "Our SONG."

Your like a rock, hard and steady,
I'm soft like a flower against your skin,
you hold my heart, I know I hold yours,
I feel the beat of it from within.
I touch your lips, trace their lines,
you hold my eyes, as you trace mine,
we've lost all track of time,
as love unfolds between us, so divine.
What gentle love we have shared,
husband and wife, we both have cared,
nothing more than heavenly bliss on earth,
between us a deeper love is birthed.
Who could stop the flow of time,
who could stop this surge of mine,
of love that came so softly seeded,
when I first discovered it was you I needed.

He said I was oxygen
That he couldn’t live without
He said I was the ideal
That he wanted for a wife
He flattered and he praised me
Made me feel like a princess
No one else came even close
His desires he’d thus confess
He’d waited for me for years
Desperate to be my man
He did ask me more than once
To please love him if I can
And then I tumbled headlong
Into this prince charming’s arms
I pledged him eternal love
I succumbed to his sweet charms
Many years have passed and now
We are both set to get old
But at times my heart just mourns
For a love that’s getting cold
For though we still make music
To a rhythm all our own
That hungry look has just gone
The passion that I have known
“My love, you’re my oxygen,
You’re the life that I inhale!”
Tell me, though, my beloved
Has that oxygen gone stale?
Am I the carbon dioxide
That you are quick to expel?
Need a fresh O2 supply
That enlivens every cell?
My love, if I’m no longer
The breath that gives you your life
Remember I’m still that girl
You desired for a wife!
Eileen Manassian Ghali
PS...Soupers, I often tease my husband about this oxygen thing. I guess it is inevitable that somewhere along the line...the mad frenzy of love mellows to a comfortable rhythm. Of course, love needs nurture! I read once that someone told a marriage counselor, "My husband and I are like a comfortable pair of old sneakers," to which she replied, "That's alright, as long as you remember, old sneakers need to dance every now and then!" :) Get the music going!

Something like a love song
Crossed my mind,
Sang to my soul,
Made my heart fly.
Something like a daydream
Drove me wild
Had me on cloud nine
Free like a child.
Something like a miracle
Hit me hard
Had me jumping and skipping.
I was touching the stars.
Something like a love story
Took my by surprise
Feeling like I won the lotto
Gave me butterflies.
Something like a love song
Played softly to my heart beat
Its all your fault
And I'm swept off my feet.

Part I: Wife to Husband
You never pay me any mind.
I'm sick of this. You hear me?
If you don't find me interesting,
perhaps you'd better fear me.
The "choc'late" in that cake you ate
Is laxative, I swear it!
So please don't take the rest to work.
Someone might want to share it.
I plan to see my boyfriends soon.
We always have such fun.
We're gonna have a good old time,
so soon I've got to run.
Your boss asked when you're coming in.
I told him you said "Never."
I plan to have your brakelines cut,
so take the bus forever.
I've emptied all the bank accounts,
So please don't write a check.
I've boobytrapped the yard; I hope
You fall and break your neck.
Hey, you! Look up. Acknowledge me,
You blank-eyed, drooling jerk!
Part 2: Oblivious Husband's Response
I'm really late. Just coffee, dear.
I've got to get to work.
May 28, 2016
for Poet Destroyer A's "Desperate Housewife" Contest

Like a ghost I flitter through the night
keeping to the shadows
abhorring the light
Tears... Unrelenting grief
The night camouflages and no one can see
the shadow of the person that once was me
The day lays me bare with nowhere to hide
Where the raw pain and your memory collide
Agony... Unrelenting grief
Gone is the treasure of our history
Evidenced in this lonely debris
Only silence now
reminisces with me
Anguish....Unrelenting grief
A penned art on vellum once tied in velvet ribbon
What lies beneath me now the conclusion is written
Droplets of amber have spilled upon this page
They pool in the dirt here upon your grave
Desolation...Unrelenting grief
Remembering the touch of our feet
Fingertips on my shoulder your breath on my cheek
Early mornings recounting your dreams
25 years How oh how am I supposed to breathe
Heartbreak...Unrelenting grief
You took with you the heart of me
My glory my purpose my identity
You disappeared without a trace
Hide and seek in an unfamiliar place
Incertitude...Unrelenting Grief
Can you hear them cry
Oh Daddy why
Gut wrenching wails
Swollen eyes fail
Empty...Unrelenting grief
Till death do us part
My husband your bride
You parted I perished
With your suicide
Irrecoverable... Unrelenting grief

You tried to hide from me at the start.
You didn't know me or my heart.
You couldn't trust any man at all.
I broke down your walls, and you started to fall.
I saw in your eyes that you needed someone,
but only someone you could trust.
I knew that I could be that someone,
and your heart I gradually won.
Our life started, on that special day,
In a time and place so far away.
We promised each other before God and man,
to stick together forever, was our plan.
And now I can say, at the end of the day,
Even tho troubles have come our way,
That my love is stronger now than at the start.
And you will always have my heart.
March 11,2015 Revised October 24,2015

My head’s upon my pillow
Still light enough to see
How lucky I truly am
By the face in front of me
She doesn’t even know it
As shadows bless her face
I will follow her anywhere
At any time, to anyplace
She’s my feather in the wind
The floating guide before my eyes
I’ll follow her forever
Wherever she so flies
My inspiration and my muse
She’s a feather from a dove
My one and only forever
She’s my one and only love
Her silence, there, is beauty
Her scent, of angel’s breath
I’m enslaved to all she is
My strength, there’s nothing left
I am weakened sure and like it
If it means to share her life
As my eyes close on my pillow
Good night my love, my wife
She’s my feather in the wind
The floating guide before my eyes
I’ll follow her forever
Wherever she so flies
My inspiration and my muse
She’s a feather from a dove
My one and only forever
She’s my one and only love

You ignore my birthday,
Our anniversary too.
Most holidays just pass right by,
Without a word from you.
You don't say "Happy Birthday",
"I love you, you're the best",
Or wish me "Merry Christmas",
As you would a friend or guest.
Forget about a valentine,
From me you've had a ton,
And though I've told you many times,
From you I've not had one.
You hate to spend a penny,
If it'snot something for you.
You feel your money's wasted,
All my "gifts" are shared with you.
You wonder why I'm not the girl,
You married years ago.
I'm sadder and much wiser now,
You reap whate'er you sow.
Judy Ball
Inspired by Russel Sivey's relatioship contest

“She’s pregnant. Oh my God!”
“I’m going to be a father!” He beams.
“What will we call him honey?” He says.
“What have I got myself into…her chest heaves.
Day after day as she grows, he works, this father to be.
“Honey, careful now!” He lends a hand as she sits down.
“Careful,” she sighs. “Shoulda thought of that…”
and her labor begins with a scream.
Hour after hour in pain …”My wife.”
Hour after hour he paces his life.
A squall from the far room and in rushes he.
“I’m a father!” He preens. “Honey? What will his name be?”
Up honey looks, no smile…so abashed
“Honey,” she says. “We have a fine lass…..”
Crestfallen he stammers. Eyes caste to the wall.
“It’s alright.” He says “We can have more………..”